I was wondering if you got anything resolved with your auger? I started having the same problem with mine (Strikelite 2008) about a week ago, gas or almost exhaust coming out of carb. Mine was running fine for about five holes and on the way to next hole, died. I’ve changed plug, added Seafoam to gas and crankcase to see if would free up valves, but no luck. I also have a hole on the carb side of air filter, like it backfired?
After these efforts, I started to disassemble valve cover and one of the valves was sticking. I loosened it up, put it back together and fired up on second pull. Just in case you haven’t got yours fixed and want to give it a try?